East-west Tollway May Get New Ramp

November 01, 1990|By Neil H. Mehler.

An interchange intended to make it easier for motorists to reach Du Page County courts, agencies and offices and help ensure the success of a proposed commercial development in Warrenville is being planned at Winfield Road on the East-West Tollway.

The four-ramp interchange and related road access work would cost $9.2 million. Du Page County would pay $850,000; Warrenville, $2.1 million; and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, about $6.3 million, a county report estimates.

Karl D. Fry, the county highway superintendent, said this would provide better access to the county complex, which includes the jail, courts, health and numerous other facilities at County Farm and Manchester Roads in Wheaton.

Additionally, Fry said, it would relieve traffic congestion at the busy Naperville Road interchange to the east, which serves Naperville, Warrenville and Lisle and hotels, office buildings and research centers.

Warrenville Mayor Vivian M. Lund said she was ``fairly certain it would occur`` but the City Council hadn`t acted on any funding for construction.

The interchange would be a key to the success of a planned unit development of commercial, retail and high-rise residential structures on the site of a gravel quarry owned by Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Co. Negotiations over that land are continuing between the quarry owner and a joint venture of La Salle Partners and the real estate arm of Amoco Oil Corp., Lund said.

Now motorists trying to reach county facilities or other places in the fast-growing Naperville area or the Wheaton area via the East-West Tollway have several miles to traverse after exiting at Naperville Road.

The northbound route is not only through the Lisle-Naperville corridor but also through Wheaton`s Danada area, which has four shopping centers with a new one coming. It then continues through long residential stretches.

A resolution agreeing to fund the project was to be voted on Wednesday at a special Du Page County Board meeting, but the meeting was not held for lack of a quorum. Fry said the resolution would be presented again Tuesday.

Antoine Karam, tollway chief engineer, said his agency approved a permit for the first phase of the project, which is running Winfield Road under the tollway.

But the tollway has not included the interchange on its 1990 project list, and Karam could not predict whether it would be on the 1991 agenda.